Click on the link to the right for an MP3 : Spaceout on 6PR

Or see below for the transcript :

Steve : Now this is a great idea. We spotted this ad, it’s called ‘Spaceout’, and you might think ‘Ehh?’. Spaceout it means that if you’ve got a bit of excess capacity maybe a spare room or a parking bay that you’re not using or maybe a store room, people might want to actually hire it off you. Andy Henderson is the technical advisor of Spaceout and he joins us right now. Good morning to you.

Andy : Steve how are you doing?

Steve : Good mate! Tell us how Spaceout works.

Andy : Spaceout originally started as a concept for essentially private storage so you can store items that you might otherwise store in a commercial storage environment but you store it in someone’s home – might be in a shed might be in a garage might be in a spare bedroom.

The advantages are you get much cheaper rates. You can get access…negotiate as you need to with the homeowner, and from the homeowner’s perspective they’re making money out of empty space and literally making money out of thin air.

Steve : Alright, so if you jump on the Net you can register etc. Let’s say that I live in…I don’t know, Northbridge and I’ve got a parking bay, I don’t own a car but I do own a unit that’s got a parking bay, what you do is act as like the middle person in being able to rent that out is that how it works?

Andy : Yeah, we’re essentially a matchmaker. We hook people up that have a space with those that need space. Parking in particular in Perth is a big issue. We’ve seen a lot of interest in parking spaces and currently there’s none available to rent on our site. We allow people to rent spaces or advertise spaces for rent but also to say what they’re looking for, what they’re wanting. And parking space in Perth, there’s always people looking for parking spaces.

Steve : But storage…storage is also an area where people are demanding a little bit of extra space as well.

Andy : Sure…Australians are, as a whole great consumers  - we tend to accumulate stuff and we don’t like to throw it out,  so people with some spare space, a spare bedroom, a spare shed can capitalise on this by renting it out for storage… It works really well for empty nesters – the kids have left home you know they might have a family home with four/five bedrooms and they only need a couple. So those bedrooms, often gathering their own junk or gathering dust, if they can rent out a bedroom for 200 bucks a month, put someone’s stuff in it, shut the door and forget about it.

Steve : Mmm. From a business’s point of view that might choose to do that, how do they know that they’ll be…well the documents they keep there they’ll be kept safely?

Andy : Yeah we don’t actually get involved in the transaction but we certainly encourage people to negotiate…we hook people up, we get them to talk to each other, and they’ve got to be comfortable with each other…you know it works for the homeowner’s perspective as well – what are they storing there? So you’ve got to get a rapport you’ve got to trust and believe the person that’s there. So there’s an element of trust. Insurance is…is possible as well. But you know certainly that arrangement needs to be made between the space owner and the space renter.

Steve : Mmm. So how much could I make for example if I did have a car bay in Northbridge?

Andy : Prices really vary depending on demand. We get listings come up and go very quickly. You know, I couldn’t honestly say, depends on the access depends on the security, depends on…you know, what people need. So typically we’re looking anywhere between $100 and $300 a month but you know that can vary significantly.

Steve : …depending on what you’ve got.  What about if you’re a residential premise, and someone starts to come on to your property…and rents a particular part of maybe the dwelling or even the car bay one would have to look at their insurance policies too if someone was injured?

Andy : Yeah definitely you need to look at all those aspects of it. Certainly any income should be registered as income for tax purposes. Insurance-wise you should check with your insurer over what is covered and what isn’t. There are various options for the homeowner and for the person who owns the goods about how he can go about getting insurance.

Steve : Is it restricted to just being near the CBD or if someone…?

Andy : Not at all…

Steve : …If someone had spare capacity in the suburbs?

Andy : We have suburbs and even rural…we have rural listings people renting out paddocks for agistment for example and sheds…pretty much any type of space we’re trying to cater for.

Steve : Alright, it’s worth having a look at: spaceout.com.au. You got much competition Andy?

Andy : Not a lot actually there’s a few specialist parking areas but apart from that in Australia it’s pretty much us.

Steve : OK. And what got you into the idea?

Andy : Well one of the original partners was packing up and moving to Japan. He had a flat-load of furniture that he wanted to store, was horrified at the commercial rates, ended up leaving bits and pieces with mates all over the place and thought wouldn’t it be awesome if there was somewhere he could go to…that he could find someone who was able and willing to store his stuff for a period.

Steve : It’s a good idea.

Andy : Yeah well it’s…we love it and, you know, we’re getting lots of really positive support for it.

Steve : Alright, good on you Andy, appreciate your time this morning.  Take care.

Andy : Great. You too. Thanks Steve.

Steve : Andy Henderson there. If you want to check that out it’s called spaceout.com.au.

The new form of commercial property has been fuelled by demographic changes, which have squeezed storage in some high-density areas, while ensuring space to spare in the growing number of single person households.

And it could become a bigger business if the State Government acts on a discussion paper by the Planning Department that calls for free parking at shopping centres to be phased out. The paper calls for a cap on parking at retail and business centres across metropolitan Perth to promote public transport.

The Department of Transport warned that it was already monitoring the fledgling trend to rent out parking spots to ensure it did not breach regulations.

It said the practice was illegal in the central city area unless the site’s planning approval allowed it, it had been specifically approved by the Transport Minister, or the building received planning approval before July 1999. Breaches attracted hefty penalties of $5000.

Legal rentals were typically in apartment complexes, usually on the outskirts of the city or in the suburbs.

Renting Out Parking Space

Filmmaker Alice Ross said she decided to rent out her undercover parking spot at her Northbridge investment unit when her tenants told her they would not need it.

Rather than waste the space, she is offering it for $50 a week through Gumtree, a free local advertising website.

“It’s so easy because you don’t have to do anything except give the new tenants the key,” Ms Ross said.

Renting Out Storage Space

Residents are also turning spare rooms, garages and sheds into commercial units by renting them out as storage space, usually for $200 a month.

Andy Henderson, technical director of the Space Out website, said increasing density had put a premium on space, turning it into a handy profit-earner.

He said empty-nesters were embracing the trend, clearing out spare rooms to rent for storage.

Websites that advertise storage space offered options, including sea containers, indoor rooms, or outdoor sheds.

There was a premium on indoor facilities and rooms that could be locked and rooms that the renter could get access to independently.

“It’s literally a way to make money out of thin air,” Mr Henderson said. “It’s money for nothing.” OUT OF THIN AIR $200 The amount (a week) some empty-nesters are said to be earning by renting out spare rooms for storage.

As featured on The West

• specific items (e.g. power drill, ladder or lawn mower)
• unused space (e.g. empty shed, garage or bedroom, that could be rented out for storage)
• a spare apartment or bedroom , which could be rented out for short term accommodation

Rent Out Spare Space

If you have spare, unused or wasted space in your home or business, you could turn it into cash, by renting it out for storage, parking or even business or commercial use – literally making money out of this Air.   SpaceOut allows people to advertise their spaces for rent  anywhere in Australia, and make it easy for people looking for space to find and contact you to arrange rental.   You can Create your Space for Rent Lisitng right now.

Rent Out Things

Services like Rentoid and OpenShed allow you to rent out specific items, such as mowers, ladders,surfboards – and pretty much anything else you can think of.  It’s a great way to make some money on things that you own but don’t use very much.  One thing to keep in mind though (as Karl said) what happens if they rent it and break it.  Make sure that you either take a deposit or have an agreement in place in case this happens.

Rent Out Accommodation

If you have a spare bedroom and don’t mind sharing your home with strangers (which could be interesting) you can use online services like AirBnB – a community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world

Channel Nine’s A Current Affair program ran a story tonight about the horrendous prices being charged by Parking Stations throughout Australia.

Airport Parking, Hospital parking, and especially CBD parking stations are charging exorbitant prices – adding a huge extra expense to your day out.

In Sydney you will need to pay up to $40 for 4 hours parking and in Brisbane you should expect to pay up to $61. Melbourne will set you back $54 for a 4 hour stay.

To make it worse, some parking stations highlight “special offers” from just $2 or $5. But unless you are very careful to read the fine print and abide by strict conditions, it is quite possible you will be slugged for between $30 and $50 for parking just 1-2 hrs.

Airports and Hospitals are also notorious for their parking fees, and because in many cases there is no other choice but to pay for parking, people are often forced to cut their visits short 0 – in order to9 try and reduce the costs.

If you are looking for casual parking, sites like CarParking.info are available to help you to find Cheap Parking.  They also offer a Free iphone  App which you can use while you are out and about amd on the prowl for cheap parking.

But of course, if you are looking for cheap longer term parking, you can search for Parking Spaces for rent on SpaceOut.com.au

See the ACA Story – Parking Fury

SpaceOut was featured in one of the cover articles from the September 2010 edition of Money Magazine  – An Extra $200 a month renting out spare space.

The Money Magazine “Smart Money” article outlines some of the many benefits of renting out your spare  space and Quotes our Technical Director (Andy Henderson) :

“Almost everyone has unused space around their home,apartment, or business – whether that’s your garage, your parking spot, your shed, a spare room or even your fridge – you’ll find there is someone out there willing to pay you to use it.”

Private rentals are increasingly becoming recognised as real alternatives to traditional self-storage facilities – and are often much more convenient, and significantly cheaper as well.  Using online services such as www. SpaceOut.com.au, ordinary Australians can lease out their excess or unused space privately and make a little extra cash on the side.

“Many of us have got a spare bedroom or shed. More often than not it’s half-filled with our own junk,  Why not do a reshuffle and rent it out?”

Private storage suits all types of people – particularly retirees and “empty nesters”,  who wouldn’t dream of  getting in a tenant (and sharing their house and lives with someone), but are very happy to store someones furniture in the spare room for a few months or more while the person is off travelling.

“Typically you are looking at between $100 and $200 a month for doing little more than putting stuff in a room and shutting the door”

If you’d like to read more about how you can make money from space, and turn your unused bedroom, shed or garage into an extra regular income, get out today and get your own copy of Money Magazine – September 2010.

Shed a nice little earner

Empty driveways, garages and sheds around Perth are being turned into cash cows.

Scores of people are pocketing up to $500 a month by renting out empty space they think could be useful to someone else.

SpaceOut.com.au is a website the matches “SpaceOwners” with “SpaceSeekers”.

Founder Damon Russell said. “When home and business owners realise that their unused space could be earning them a regular rental income with little or no effort, it is a real no-brainer”

Bayswater resident Carol Marshall is hoping to make some extra cash out of her back shed. She is asking #90 a week to rent it.

Mr Russell said the idea cam to him when he needed somewhere to store his belongings while he went overseas.

Channel 9′s A Current Affair program has run a series of reports over the last few weeks about the methods Australian National Car Parks (ANCP) seem to be using to intimidate people into paying “fines” for failing to get a ticket at public Car Parks they manage.

It was alleged that ANCP take advantage of the fact that people are often unaware that they need to get a ticket – even though the car parks are clearly signed as “2 Hours Free Parking”.  It seems that if you fail to get a ticket (even if you stay for less than 2 hrs) ANCP staff have been issuing ‘liquidated damages’  demands for $66 – which quickly escalate to $88 and then $163 if you don’t pay in time – in some cases followed by a NOTICE OF INTENTION TO SUE.

However, as a private company, ANCP does not have legal authority to administer fines.

What the law says:

A DRIVER using a private car park enters into a contract with the operator to abide by the terms and conditions stated on signs (which must be prominently displayed).

Under contract law, parties are not entitled to impose penalties for breach of contract but can seek “liquidated damages” – which are defined as a reasonable estimate of the damage suffered as a result of the contract being breached. If a court finds the estimate is not reasonable it is defined as a penalty and becomes invalid.

If damages are sought by a private car-park operators but resisted by the driver the issue may end up in court, however, the company then has to demonstrate how the damage it suffered equals the damages it is seeking.

There is considerable doubt whether ANCP could justify the $66 damages they have been demanding.

But It’s all happened before :

This is certainly not the first time this type of practice has been reported.

In April 2007, The Age (Crackdown on car parking ‘bullies ) reported similar practices by Australian National Car Parks and highlighted that a number of Victorian Councils had banned (or were considering bans) on ANCP operating within their regions.

Moreland Council, which includes Brunswick, Coburg and Pascoe Vale, accused Australian National Car Parks of bullying behaviour, and Darebin Council, which includes Northcote and Preston, had asked the company to stop handing out tickets.

At the time ANCP was being investigated by the NSW Office of Fair Trading and had also been reported to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

In 2006, then NSW fair trading minister Diane Beamer urged drivers to “exercise extreme caution” in ANCP car parks because the company could have been engaging in “improper, misleading and deceptive conduct”.

In October 2008, the Herald Sun (Supermarket shoppers not legally obliged to pay parking fines ) reported that tens of thousands of Victorians had paid up for shopping centre parking fines that they were not legally obliged to pay.

On 10th October, Consumer Affairs Victoria issued a state-wide alert warning motorists that Care Park Pty Ltd had no power to issue fines or impose penalties at “free” supermarket car parks.  Also at that time Australian National Car Parks was at the centre of a case designed to test the legality of its demands, and a third company that issued demand notices – Parking Infringements Victoria – was under investigation by Consumer Affairs.

A Facebook group called The People vs Australian National Car Parks -  has been established with the aim of helping with information and advice.  There are also plenty of active forums discussing the issues, but consensus seems to be that if you do get issued with one of these demand notices – don’t panic and don’t lose sleep over it – simply throw the notice away.

Workers on park avenue

Fed-up city workers are ditching expensive CBD carparks for cheaper backyard spots.

Brisbane was ranked as the seventh moist expensive city in the world for parking in the most recent Colliers International Global CBD Parking Rate survey, with motorists having to pay a median monthly cost of $596 for parking.

The survey found Brisbanites were spending more on their parking than those living in Tokyo or New York.

But a local website is revolutionising city parking by matching desperate motorists with inner-city tenants who have room to spare in carparks backyards and garages.

SpaceOut.com.au advertises private car spaces for rent, and places ads for commuters hoping to find cheap car parks close to their work.

This morning the site offered an undercover parking space in South Brisbane for $50 a week or $160 a month

Meanwhile a space with double-swipe security protection at Spring Hill was being advertised for the bargain price of #240 a month.

Spaceout’s Andy Henderson said many private carpark providers were inner-city residents who lived and socialised in the city and chose not to have a car.

“We’re getting a lot more inner-city accommodation, and a lot of those, for example are being filled by foreign students who don’t have a car.” he said.

“They see this as an opportunity to subsidise their rent.“

If you have any spare space like a spare room, sunroom, shed or garage, you could earn a lazy $100 a week by putting it up for rent as space.  Lots of travellers like a place to store their stuff and commercial storage is getting expensive.

It’s a tenant without the hassle says Roget Hawley, who told Value Hunter a few months ago that he had a two-car garage in Brisbane’s north-side, but with only one car, and decided to offer the space for rent on www.spaceout.com.au.  It’s now earning him $180 a month.

Today’s article is a follow-up on a piece that Jane Hansen did in August this year where SpaceOut was featured on Value Hunter’s “Cash in Your Spare Space” article.

“One Idea that I really like is SpaceOut.  I love this idea of making money out of things that we already own.  SpaceOut is a website where you can list a spare bedroom, an empty garage, or a farmer could even list an empty paddock for animals for agistment.  It’s kind of making money out of nothing – that’s got to be a really good idea.“

Here is the video :